Paul Williams

It's no secret that Golden Boy Promotions wants to navigate Canelo into a potential mega fight with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. sometime in the future. Rushing him too soon, though, would almost surely produce a loss. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has taken it upon himself to try and delay until the young superstar is ready.

There's no doubt that Canelo is the future star for Golden Boy and potential pay-per-view golden egg who can produce massive numbers long after Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao are gone. That's why Golden Boy has been building him up by featuring him on the televised undercard of Mayweather fights.

Now, it seems that Golden Boy is ready to put their plan into motion. The plan is to have Canelo headline his very own pay-per-view card on September 15th.

No opponent has been set in stone, but Golden Boy have been in contact with James Kirkland as a potential foe. This is good because Kirkland would be one of Canelo's toughest challenges to date. What Kirkland lacks in defense, he makes up for in blistering offense. 

However, this fight might not happen because Kirkland is currently out due to a shoulder injury that might not heal up in him for a September bout with Canelo. The WBC tried having an eliminator between Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara, but Martirosyan backed out of the fight because he felt the WBC wouldn't guarantee him a title shot even if he won. 

If Kirkland isn't ready, a name that Schaefer tossed around was former pound-for-pound king and world titlist Paul Williams. 

This would probably be a more interesting fight, although he hasn't really done anything to earn this shot. Then again, what do most guys do to earn their shots other than having a name?

If this fight were to happen, I expect it to be an even tougher fight for Canelo. We'll see how Paul Williams' work rate does against Canelo's patience.

Williams' name recognition also makes a lot more sense from a pay-per-view sales standpoint, more so than lesser-known James Kirkland.

Yahoo.com's Kevin Iole reported Wednesday that the three judges who officiated the Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara bout have been suspended by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board.

Judges Al Bennett, Hilton Whitaker and Don Givens were suspended for scoring a majority-decision victory for Williams in a fight most ringside observers thought Lara had won.

Bennett had it scored a draw at 114-114 while Whitaker had it 115-114 and Givens scored it 116-114, both for the former welterweight champion.

HBO's ringside commentator, Harold Lederman, had Lara winning, 117-111.

Williams (40-2) kept up a steady work rate throughout the 10-round bout and threw over 500 more punches than his opponent. Lara (15-1-1) landed more and appeared to hurt Williams on several occasions. Because of the subjective scoring of the bout, New Jersey officials didn't find it necessary to overturn the decision.

The CompuBox punch stats showed Williams landing 200 out of 1,047 punches. Lara landed 224 of 530.

HBO commentator and former pound-for-pound star Roy Jones Jr. was concerned with the condition of Williams as he took repeated left hands to the head—a punch that knocked Williams out in his second bout with Sergio Martinez.

NJSACB commissioner Aaron M. Davis was "unsatisfied with the scoring of the contest" according to an official statement released this week.

“This agency has placed all three judges on indefinite suspension,” Davis stated. “Further, all three judges will be required to undergo additional training prior to their return to professional boxing judging."

Judge Givens had never scored a major televised bout while Whitaker and Bennett had one or two notable bouts. Whitaker scored last year's Zab Judah-Lucas Matthysse bout for Judah, who won by split-decision. Many had thought Matthysse did enough to win that fight as well.

“Any contestant who enters a ring or cage in our state deserves the best officiating that we can provide," Davis said in the statement. "While we do not mean to diminish Mr. Williams’ competitive spirit and exciting style, we feel that we did not provide our best officiating on July 9...

“The NJSACB does not have the legal authority, under these circumstances, to invalidate the official result. This is due to the fact that all scoring is a matter of subjective judgment. In a similar fashion, we cannot mandate a rematch. However, our opinion is that a rematch may be warranted.”

Wins by former middleweight champion Paul Williams and lightweight Brandon Rios capped the weekend boxing events that also include victories by rising boxing stars.

The weekend events include among others, a KO win by Mercito Gesta of the Philippines against Mexican Jorge Pimentel and a unanimous decision by Mexican-American lightweight Carlos Molina over former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron.

Williams got away with a hairline victory over Cuban Erislandy Lara at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Lara clearly dominated the fight with his Martinez-style uppercuts that turned Williams face into a bloody mess. 

Also in Atlantic City, NJ, unbeaten Rico Ramos scored a surprise victory over WBA 122-pound titleholder Akifumi Shimoda with a devastating left hook in the seventh round.

Ramos was losing to Shimoda on points until Ramos ended what could have been a sure shot by Shimoda with his unexpected lucky punch.

In a toe-to-toe battle at the Home Depot Center, Rios knocked out Urbano Antillon twice in the third round and was counted out by the referee in the late round as Antillon hit the canvas face first 

Lightweight rising star Mercito Gesta of the Philippines scored a third round stoppage over Mexican Jorge Pimentel also at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Gesta's left and right combinations were just too much for the hapless Mexican who took the fight on a one-week notice.

Carlos Molina snatched a unanimous decision over former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron at the same venue in Carson. With only four defeats in his career, Molina has not lost in his last 12 fights. Molina is primed for major fights that could include a battle with middleweight contender Pawel Wolak or even the highly rated Saul Alvarez.

Meanwhile promoter Bob Arum said Top Rank's new find Mercito Gesta may see action again before the end of the year after the young undefeated Filipino trashed Jorge Pimentel in a display of speed and power that proved too much for the Mexican journey man. Arum mentioned Miguel Vasquez as Gesta's possible opponent.

Arum likewise dangled Bam Bam Rios for a shot at his No.1 cash cow Manny Pacquiao after noting Rios' impressive win over former Pacquiao sparring partner Urbano Antillon last Saturday.

Major fights next weekend include, Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Licar Ramos, Brian Viloria vs. Julio Cesar Miranda and Ricky Burns and Nicky Cook, among others.

 

Wins by former middleweight champion Paul Williams and lightweight Brandon Rios capped the weekend boxing events that also include victories by rising boxing stars.

The weekend events include among others, a KO win by Mercito Gesta of the Philippines against Mexican Jorge Pimentel and a unanimous decision by Mexican-American lightweight Carlos Molina over former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron.

Williams got away with a hairline victory over Cuban Erislandy Lara at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Lara clearly dominated the fight with his Martinez-style uppercuts that turned Williams face into a bloody mess. 

Also in Atlantic City, NJ, unbeaten Rico Ramos scored a surprise victory over WBA 122-pound titleholder Akifumi Shimoda with a devastating left hook in the seventh round.

Ramos was losing to Shimoda on points until Ramos ended what could have been a sure shot by Shimoda with his unexpected lucky punch.

In a toe-to-toe battle at the Home Depot Center, Rios knocked out Urbano Antillon twice in the third round and was counted out by the referee in the late round as Antillon hit the canvas face first 

Lightweight rising star Mercito Gesta of the Philippines scored a third round stoppage over Mexican Jorge Pimentel also at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Gesta's left and right combinations were just too much for the hapless Mexican who took the fight on a one-week notice.

Carlos Molina snatched a unanimous decision over former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron at the same venue in Carson. With only four defeats in his career, Molina has not lost in his last 12 fights. Molina is primed for major fights that could include a battle with middleweight contender Pawel Wolak or even the highly rated Saul Alvarez.

Meanwhile promoter Bob Arum said Top Rank's new find Mercito Gesta may see action again before the end of the year after the young undefeated Filipino trashed Jorge Pimentel in a display of speed and power that proved too much for the Mexican journey man. Arum mentioned Miguel Vasquez as Gesta's possible opponent.

Arum likewise dangled Bam Bam Rios for a shot at his No.1 cash cow Manny Pacquiao after noting Rios' impressive win over former Pacquiao sparring partner Urbano Antillon last Saturday.

Major fights next weekend include, Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Licar Ramos, Brian Viloria vs. Julio Cesar Miranda and Ricky Burns and Nicky Cook, among others.

 

In May 2010, just 14 months ago, Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron met at the Home Depot Center in California for effective supremacy at 154 pounds.

It was a highly anticipated match between two top fighters at the peak of their skills.

It's also probably one of the more memorable fights in recent history, simply for how it ended. Cintron went flying through the ropes, landing on a ringside table before sliding to the ground.  After an interminable delay, it was decided that Cintron could not continue due to injuries suffered in his fall from the ring.

The speculation started about 15 seconds after he was carted out of the arena. 

Fans watched the video of the key moment repeatedly and many argued that Cintron had deliberately flung himself from the ring.

It's impossible to know what really happened on that strange evening, but most assumed that both fighters would resume their conquests of multiple weight divisions when they returned.

It didn't turn out that way.

Williams returned in November for a shot at the middleweight title against Sergio Martinez.  The KO delivered by Martinez was the KO of the year for 2010. 

Cintron stayed out of the ring for an inexplicable 14 months. Throughout that period, their were rumors of various matchups, but nothing every materialized.

Through some quirk of fate, Williams and Cintron both ended long layoffs on Saturday night on opposite sides of the country.  Williams returned to the scene of his devastating KO in Atlantic City while Cintron was in the same arena in California that saw him fly out of the ring.

While the official results of their fights were different, the effective results were the same. 

Cintron got drilled for most of his fight against Carlos Molina and lost a lopsided unanimous decision. Williams got drilled for most of his fight against Erislandry Lara and won a close majority decision.

More important than the scorecards is how these two former greats looked—and it wasn't pretty for either. 

Neither was able to demonstrate the skills that had carried them to the top of the sport. Both looked bad against fighters that few consider to be overly dangerous.

Being handed a gift victory by the judges does Williams little good. Boxing fans, the pay networks, and—most importantly—boxing promoters know what they saw on Saturday night in Atlantic City, and it was not "The Punisher." 

If anything, Williams is in danger of having his nickname summarily changed to "The Punishee" after his last two fights.

With two fighters who have a history together both falling from the top level of the sport, it is time for a crossroads fight. 

Put Cintron and Williams in the ring together. Winner gets another shot at the top, loser goes home for good. 

We don't know what would have happened in their aborted fight last year, but we can find out which of them has any gas left in the tank now.

For boxing fans, it is sad to see two talented fighters drop off so quickly, but that is the way of the sport. 

It's unlikely that we will ever see either truly competitive at the very top level again, but a crossroads fight would give fans an idea of who deserves one more chance.

Erislandy Lara was flat-out robbed tonight as "officials" gave Paul Williams the win by majority decision.

First the Casey Anthony verdict and now this—what is wrong with America this week?!

The fight was scored 114-114, 114-115, and 114-116 by the three officials, who were not the best for the job, according to HBO's post-fight commentary. Max Kellerman called the decision "incompetent," "incomprehensible," and "shocking." 

Despite a four-inch height advantage and a 10-pound weight advantage, Williams was getting pummeled by Lara's overhand right, which was reminiscent of the powerhouse overhand right blow by Sergio Martinez that sent an unconscious Williams to the ground in the second round of their matchup. 

Lara was constantly landing power punches due to the fact that Williams' straightforward approach left him unprotected on the left side and, as commentators mentioned, "Lara just couldn't miss."

Williams threw over 1,000 punches over the 12 rounds, but only had a contact percentage of 19 percent, whereas Lara's percentage was over 40.

Even Williams' trainer, George Peterson, started telling Williams after Round 9 that he was going to have to knock out Lara in order to win and Williams said, "I know, I know."

Well, the knockout didn't happen and after 12 rounds of taking a beating, spitting out mouthfuls of blood and dealing with a nasty left eyebrow cut, Williams hung his head after the final bell and halfheartedly raised his arm as if in acknowledgment of his defeat. 

And yet, by some incomprehensible procession of incompetent "logic," Williams was announced as the winner despite Lara's jubilant raised arms and beaming camp. 

The smile on Lara's face was quickly replaced with a look of pure disbelief, as were the faces of any spectator with half a brain. 

Kellerman, in true Kellerman fashion, asked Williams point-blank why he thought he won the decision when he clearly didn't win the fight. Williams skirted the question and talked about his fight and motivation, blah blah blah. 

When it came down to it, Lara delivered, round after round, and Williams had no answer. And Williams should know better than to try to claim he deserved the win. The judges may be idiots, but the commentators, spectators and boxing fans aren't. 

Kudos to Kellerman for telling Lara on live television that he should consider the fight a win and that the boxing world should do the same.

Hopefully, Lara will get the rematch he wants, and he'll be able to prove—for the second time—that he is a better fighter than Paul Williams.

Until then, those judges should leave Atlantic City with their heads down in shame and HBO should evaluate their standards for what constitutes an "official."

The UFC has a brand new star that was born last Saturday, March 19, and his name is Jon Jones.

The 23-year-old Jones is now the youngest champion in UFC history with the demolition of UFC legend Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128.

Many MMA experts were predicting that Jones was simply not ready to take on such an experienced dangerous champion like Shogun who destroyed an undefeated legend in Lyoto Machida with one punch.

I, however, saw this fight coming off in a different way. I predicted that Jones would use his superior height and reach, which is the longest reach in the UFC, to dominate Shogun. I also felt that the business and politics overwhelmingly favor a Jones win so should it go to a decision I saw Jones winning on the judges cards no matter what.

Many MMA experts and fans pretty much disagreed with me and thought Shogun was going to school and stop Jones late in the fight for we have never seen Jones really in trouble or cleanly hit on the chin by a fighter who has Shogun's power.

I don't think anyone was ready for the performance or should I say utter beat down that Jones administered to Shogun over the course of just under three rounds. Jones was a 4-to-1 favorite to beat Shogun but that night he looked like a 40-to-1 favorite.

More impressive was the way Jones beat Shogun down. It was not all sloppy and ugly like many other UFC fights are where it looks like one or both fighters are on crystal meth. Instead, Jones fights very calm, smooth and with grace.

Even when he lands his vicious signature elbows it looks like art, not like a prison yard rumble.

Jones has all the characteristics of an all-American champion. He's young, good looking, always in great shape and conditioning, he has a clean, respectful, image. He is religious and is not afraid to let that be known that he has a strong faith in god as he prays on his knees before fights and has bible verses tattooed visibly on him.

Just hours before UFC 128 Jones was playing the role of a true hero when he chased and tackled and retrieved stolen property from a crackhead thief to its rightful owner a helpless grandma.

Jones does not roll with a flamboyant entourage with 12 bodyguards to block him from any harm.

Jones is humble and he is a people's champion. I can personally attest to this as you can see I met him from evidence of this article's photo.

This is what the sport of boxing is severely lacking, an all-American champion to win over the masses.

The only recent boxer who had the possibility of filling this much needed void was Floyd Mayweather Jr. but he decided long ago that he would go the "villain" route in order to win as much money as he possibly could for himself instead of fighting for his fans.

Mayweather has that power to do so many positive things and in all fairness he does have his charities that he set up and supports, but unfortunately that is not what he is known for. Floyd is infamous more than he is famous.

With his constant legal trouble (some that I feel is unjustifiably targeted against him), racist U-STREAM videos, fighting only on Twitter and the very long vacation absences from the ring, Floyd's image seems to be taking a turn for the worse.

As a fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. the fighter, it seems to be getting harder and harder to still support him or at least publicly.

If we were to keep it real, Mayweather could very well clean out divisions of fighters that he is accused of ducking, but the fact that he really does not care for his fans or his legacy it's rather difficult for the true loyal Mayweather fans often get the short end of boxing debates.

With the comparison to Jon Jones, it is obviously not comparing apples to apples for Mayweather is a technical master, a defense wizard. Obviously a casual fan will appreciate the attacking style of Jones to that of Mayweather.

Also of course Mayweather is for the most part a small short average sized fighter.

A better comparison to Jon Jones in boxing would be Paul Williams.

Williams is also a very tall fighter for the divisions that he campaigns in and has superior reach over virtually every fighter in those 147 to 160 divisions. Many were hyping and hoping for Williams to be the next Tommy Hearns and to save boxing and clean out 147 to 160.

Unfortunately Williams began to believe in his own hype and got humiliated in his first loss to Carlos Quintana a decent fighter but not a good or great fighter.

Williams then took on average opposition and was gifted a controversial decision against a then underrated and under appreciated Sergio Martinez. We all know how the story ended in the rematch with Martinez obtaining the Knockout of the Year Award in the second round of that fight.

Will he ever be ever to recover his career from such a devastating loss? Well with Al Haymon in his corner anything is possible, but is he the next all-American champion hero to save boxing?

That answer is clearly a no.

Boxing needs its own Jon Jones, an all-American hero to get the masses interested again. An all-American people's champion that we can respect both inside and outside the ring. The longer boxing is without this all-American champion savior, the more and more the masses will lose interest in the sport.

Will the real all-American boxing hero please stand up?

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